of whether someone's comes were inelegant or not, the truth is, we'risism-- imploding, there isl began way to say -- elegant way to say, we don't have a pot to piss in. good night. >> welcome to the willis reportl hello anti-american protest have gone high-tech, and a group claims responsible for alleged cyberattacks on web site of bans of america, and the new york t stocks stocks.stexchan

group saying first step in a campaign against property of american we have analyststs. capitalists. now more country push youtube to block an islam filmattacks on ta and new york stock exchange. is the president's policy of mutual respect working? >> i think obviously not. it's -- we were going to have a new era in the relations with the muslim world, and that's not happened. i think the responsibility should be laid first and foremost at the feet of the islamic extremists, and i think it important to emphasize and understand that i don't believe the great majority of muslims or arabs share those views, but one

of the problems is those people are now intimidated. one of the purpose of terrorists is to terrorize people into silence and it's often effective. gerri: the white house today retooling its response saying the attack on libya was maybe not spontaneous, maybe this video -- not even a film -- the video was exploited by mill at that particular times. he's -- here's the white house today. >> we were provided information with what we believe was the precipitating cause of the protests and the violence based on the information we have had had available. there is an ongoing investigation. the fbi is investigating, and that investigation will follow the facts wherever they lead. gerri: ambassador, what's that response tell you? >> well, i think they were in denial in the first place. the notion they turned up with

rocket propelled grenades and mortars in a spontaneous demonstration, september 11th of all dates, and seemed to have targeted and killed the american ambassador, so responsible for the liberation of libya, i think is -- was very clearly deliberate, and whether they were angry about the video. i think probably not so much there because most people there are pro-american, but elsewhere, yes, they are angry about the video, but focusing on the video is bad in a number of respects. there's no way you can shut down outrageous speech in the country of the united states, it's going to happen, but if the responsibility of responsible officials in egypt and other countries throughout the world to take actions to protect embassies and they are the ones who are responsible, and the extremists sure -- stirring up the crowds are responsible. talking about the video really

is to distract from the real problem. gerri: you have a lot of experience in these proceedings as deputy secretary of defense under george w. bush. people staid it's bush's fault the arab world is in unrest today. do you agree? how do you respond? >> i don't at all. look, these extremists were breeding in the arab world for years under horrible dictators. 9/11 happened with basically before george w. bush even appeared, and i believe in fact that the dictatorships of the arab world gave credit the to the extremists who attacks the governments for denying freedom to their people. sooner or later, those governments collapse both because of age and also, frankly, because ashes want freedom as well, and when they collapsed, there was no preparation for an alternative

system. there's going to be chaos for some period of time. hopefully is works out. it took us 200 years ago, took us a long time to sort out our problems and they were less serious in many ways. gerri: there's a map of 25 countries in protests against the u.s.. it's disturbing to americans to see this. we're not used to this, i think. is there something elsehe u.s. should be doing? some call that the u.s. get out of the countries all together. would that be the right move? >> i think it's a mistake, and frankly, look, we have been dealing with this kind of anti-american violence in the middle east at least as far back as the takeover of the american embassy and iran 33 years ago, and it's a fact of life. it's not something that can't be changed. i believe the mistake of saying

we're not going to have anything to do with that part of the world is there are people in that world, arabs and muslims, great majority of them, who are not extremists and don't want to be ruled by extremists anymore than they wanted to be ruled by dictators. they need to feel they have support from the united states to wage the fight themselves. that doesn't mean we have to be deeply involved, but walking away is not the right answer. i understand the sentiment, but it's not the right answer. gerri: what is the right answer? what are the one, two, three steps that the united states should be taking today, right now? >> i think first of all, holing governments accountable for how their embassies -- how far embassies in the countries are treated, holding them accountable for what they say to their own people. the president of egypt was very slow to say anything critical of the demonstrations in his own country, and frankly, he's been ease --

espousing views of his own that somehow the united states was responsible for the world trade center bombing so i think we really need to say it's very important how governments behave, and it's very important at they do. i think we should be actively working to support those people in that part of the world who share our values and our interests. one of the problems in lya, in my opinion, is that while the great majority of libyans voted against extremists in the election back in july, a large proportion of the guns and weapons are in the hands of extremists because the u.s. left the arming of the libyan rebels to qatar and other countries who have a very different view of the world than we do. gerri: ambassador, thank you for coming on tonight, a pleasure to have you here. thank you. >> good to be with you, thank you. ♪ gerri: meanwhile, tensions in the middle east to tensions across the globe, health of the

global economy not looking good according to economic bell weather fede that lowered the forecast for the year. the delivery company saying the economy's not just stalling, but will be worse next year. the next guest says fedexdoesn't have all the answers. they don't know what they are talking about? >> gerri, they certainly know what they are talking about, and they do get a lot of leading edge economic data that's important to listen to, but, you know, fred smith has said before that the economy was turning up, when, in fact, it was turning over. as you said in the lead-in there, they don't have the perfect crystal ball, but it's important to listen to what they have to say. gerri: talking in the green room a few minutes ago, you said a worsening economy is already priced in if you look at the pe of the s&p500, but looking forward, what the federal reserve has to say, saying the full year is going to be worse in terms of gdp than they

expected. they predict growth under 2 #%. this has got to be bad news not just for people trying to find a job in the economy, but also investors. >> it's bad news for people trying to find a job, but earnings for the s&p 500, and earning season starts soon, there is starting to be talk that this quarter report is going to be a trough, and then -- since it has been so bad and the bar is very high for the fourth quarter and beyond, we're actually looking at some expanding earngs estimates here so, yes, the news right now is terrible, but keep in mind, the stock market's forward looking. we'll see how the earnings reports come out. gerri: always want to see better earnings, and one company reporting better results is apple. it's deaf knitly a bright -- definitely a bright shining light in the economy. look at that stock chart. you still like the stock? a buy at $701?

came through the $700 threshold today. >> our favorite tech pick. you had me on in january when they announced earnings, $475 then. that day, up $25. at $701, that's 15 times earnings, what the s&p500. i say "only," but it's the same for the market. gerri: compare that with internet stocks in the interpret boom, people would think you are crazy. >> i know. this is a cheap stock for what they do. gerri: by historic standards. >> yes, that's right. gerri: all right. big talk in the market is what happened to oil prices. >> yeah. gerri: big shocker, oil prices tanked. all kinds of conversation, what's going on here? a fat finger trader mistake? what do you think happened? >> i mean, there's some talk there was a rumor going around about the oil reserve being released, but i think it was a technical glitch, a mini version

of the flash crash, fat finger, whatever you want to call it. will be interesting to see how the investigation goes. i suspect something like that surfaces. gerri: people hear that, "technical glitch," and they also here it's not the playing field for investors. somebody is making money on the glitch. >> right, right, it is frustrating, particularly for a market participant like myself, but we'll see what comes to life. gerri: we'll have you explain it then. >> would love to. >> gerri: appreciate your time. >> thank you. gerri: e-mail me at gerri@foxbusiness.com. >> showing the president love at the fundraiser tonight, but is obama interested in celebrity status rather than doing his job? michael goodwin tells us what he thinks next. 47% of the most buzzed about

number after romney's video surfaced, but there's one fact out the entitlement nation, and gerri breaks it down later. back to square one for this state's union battles. this and more as wisconsin's lieutenant governor weighs in. we're on the case next on "the

gerri: well, president obama in a new york campaigning state of mind. listen to this. just finished up his chat with david letterman preparing for the two fundraising events tonight, two of them, one of which is hosted by jay-z and beyonce. should the president be more concerned with the middle east than rubbing elbows? your responses? >> yes, and yes, there's a lot of things he could be doing in the day job like talking to congress about the debt and deficit. there's a cliff at the end of the year. there's a jobs crisis.

there's a middle east crisis. three fundraisers tonight. there's tornado warnings in new york city of suppose he can't take off, after tieing up traffic, he's stuck here all night. gerri: the guest that doesn't go home. i didn't say that; you said that. send letters to him. gallop has obama at 47% and romney at 46%. the convention bump obama got is gone. does this tell you anything about where the future is going in terms of the polls, or is this about what you expected? >> well, i think the national polls are important, but what's more important is the state by state swing state polls. the key ones, obama is doing much better in ohio. i think he was up by seven in the last poll i saw, five or six in florida, must-win states for mitt romney. whatever happened nationally, they can be skewed by not having enough participants, but the swing state polls show the

advantage for obama that actually has grown somewhat since the convention cycle began. gerri: big story today, a big attention, there's a pr firm for hollywood to promote obama care so they will weave that into the television serial story lines to use it in other ways. this just strikes me as just the worst kind of promotion and kind of scary, frankly. >> well, it's big brother itch for -- it's big brotherrism for one thing, the government buys its way in your home every night. you can imagine a gangster gets shot, i got obama kay, i'm okay. it's pure self-promotion, and probably do it again quickly in october before the election so it will be like the last word, we'll pay for it, all in service for the election. gerri: paid for by taxpayer dollars. >> of course. gerri: the insurance exchange funds, the money used to keep us

healthy, come on, how much self-promotion can you get at the taxpayers' expense without people fighting back? >> well, look, i think the president has been shameless. the endless fundraising on the public dime. air force 1 costs taxpayers huge amounts of money. taxpayers foot most of the bill. you have the time spent flying around the country. he doesn't meet with anybody from congress. it's clear there was a lapse in security at beirut, in benghazi, why is he not talking about that? why suspect he gets the fbi investigation going? so many things where presidential leadership is required to steady the ship, but he's so distracted by the campaign, and frankly, has been for more than a year. gerri: interrupting for a second, breaking news. as we are showing you down below, chicago teachers voting to suspend their strike. again, chicago teachers voting

to suspend the strike saying they'll go back to school tomorrow. all the chicago school kids back in school. we'll have more details on this a little later for you in the show, and this has been an interesting tension within the white house. >> right. gerri: because the president's former adviser, the mayor of chicago, he's been begging the teachers to sign a deal to come back to the table, go back to work, and it's taken some time for that to happen. does that play out in the election? >> sure. i think it was an embarrassment to the president as well. the tehers' unions are close to the democratic party, and the president, he and the secretary of education have proposed bold reforms that the teacher unions don't like like the evaluations, including opening up charter schools, and all kinds of things that the teachers unions are fighting. here in chicago, that's essentially what they were fighting. they were going to get all the money they could possibly

justify, but it was the evaluation process and whether to be able to get rid of bad teachers, that's what the strike was about, yes, it was an embarrassment, but will be interesting to see what the terms become because if he caves on the fundamental reforms of education, i think the president will have lost an important battle. gerri: i want to get you to another head line today that's got a lot of and a lot of attention, comments from romney about the 47% of people who receive money from the government, don't pay any taxes, people criticize him heavily for this. this is what romney had to say. >> 47% who believe they are victims, believe the government has responsibility to care for them, who believe they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it. gerri: criticism, some from the left, others from the right. how do you come down? >> i believe it's an odd thing for him to have been caught saying in private. in fact, i wish he said it

publicly first because i think his comments were spot on. i think he does accurately describe the divide in the country which is between those who want bigger government and those who want smaller government. those who want expensive programs, those who want fewer of them. i think this really is the campaign at large. unfortunately, romney has not made the campaign about that. he had a very narrow focus on jobs, and he's not talked about his own growth programs in ways that would persuade people, but left himself open to the obama tax. this, i think, if he sees it as liberation rather than mistakes, it could be a new beginning. gerri: all right. michael, thanks for coming on, you covered a lot of ground. >> thank you. gerri: follow romney's response when they sit down on neil cavuto at 8 p.m. eastern time. president obama making a campaign promise a reality, the death of the coal industry. mitt romney taking a lot of flak for saying half of the country

doesn't pay taxes. next, i'll break down why he's telling the truth. telling the truth. stay with us. hey! did you know that honey nut cheerios

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what a coincidence? what's in your wallet? [ all screaming ] watch the elbows ladies. gerri: left say it's the final nail in mitt romney's coffin kohling the remarks that half the coun

gerri: outrage today on the left about remarks mitt romney made four months ago about our entitlement nation. he's -- here's some of the breathless coverage. >> we begin with a new headache for governor mitt romney's presidential campaign. >> are most republicans disappointed in the romney campaign so far? >> the campaign says that's the proportion, that he will not bother with, that he does not need to be concerned with. gerri: wow.

hey, but to be clear, on the facts, mitt is right. an astonishing 46.4% of americans paid no federal income tax in 2011 leaving the rest of us to pick up the tab for federal programs. this is a new phenomena. twelve years ago, 34% of americans paid no income taxes. in 1970, just 12%. look, if you need further convincing that a larger and larger portion of americans want uncle sam to support them, look no further than today's report from a senate committee investing social security disability programs. the committee randomly pulled 300 case files and found a quarter of them were awarded improperly without the most basic information to back the claim made available to the government. the cost of the fraud, millions in taxpayer dollars, for a program that's already teetering on bankruptcy. now, one judge alone, judge howard o'brian in oklahoma city, approved 90% of the more than

5400 cases he saw from 2007 and 2009, by himself, he awarded more than $1.6 billion in benefits. amazing; right? now, buried in the report is a slip shot work allowing taxpayer dollars to slip through government hands like the virginia applicant who claims lower back pain is the reason he needs disability. he got it. a physical therapist found he didn't exhibit the symptoms of the chronic lower back pain. he also took an hour long nap preventing his working an eight hour day. i'm not kidding. there's the case of the oklahoma applicant who claimed he had chronic knee pain, shoulder pain, coronary artery disease, and obesity. in the brief hearing, he was asked no medical questions, and the attorney on the case told the judge more than once he was unsure there was any medical evidence to qualify for a disability, but the applicant got it anyway.

the report also found the disability program is growing like top sigh. since january 2009, it's had a 5.9 million americans for a total of 10 million receiving disability payments. the point of the numbers is not that anybody should get disability, but the point is the system is broken and going broke. it will be out of money by 2016. precious little time to make fixes. the left wants you to believe republicans bring this up because they are mean people. the truth is harder to swallow. americans are turning more and more to the governmentor help to sustain themselves and their families. that is not a sustainable trend. why? the answer's easy. we can't afford it. that's what i think. now, we want to know what you think. here's the question tonight. are americans too dependent on government? log on to gerriwillis.com, and vote, and i'll share the results

at the end of the show. seven days and counting, the teacher strike, end in sight? when will they get back in the classroom? that's coming up next. ♪ 4g lte has the fastest speeds.

so let's talk about coverage. based on this chart, who would you choose ? wow. you guys take a minute. zon, hands down. i'm going to show you guys another chart. pretty obvious. i don't think color matters. pretty obvious. what'sretty obvious about it ? that verizon has the coverage. verin. verizon. we're going to go to another chart. it doesn't really matter how you present it. it doesn't matter how you present it. verizon. more 4g lte coverage than all other networks combined.

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but things are starting to turn around because of business people like you. and regions is here to help. with the experience and service to keep things rolling. from business loans to cash management, we want to be your partner moving forward. so switch to regions. and let's get going. together. gerri: chicago teachers suspending the strike just moments ago as we told you. finally, getting some 350,000 students back into school. joining me now with more, john, columnist for "national review," and, john, welcome back to the show. for a few more details, it was a split decisions. teachers got guarantees on employments they wanted, and the icago mayor got some of what

he wanted as well. we have an agreement to go back to work. what's your reaction? >> well, i think we've just had a teachable moment in chicago the last week. the people in chicago have probably learned some they didn't know -- the system is going bankrupt much there's no way that you can raise property taxes in chicago enough to pay for all of the obligations of the pension benefits and everything else promised to the teachers. the average teacher earns $76,000 a year plus benefits, and the system doesn't educate kids. 8% of kids in 11th grade are college ready, 8%. i think the parents were starting, just starting to come up with their own solutions. a couple of schools were bringing in replacement teachers, many parents were leaving for charter schools, which have stayed open, leaving for parochial schools that were open. i hope it starts a debate in the untry how much we need education reform. gerri: the lastlements you mentioned, the charter schools,

ect., that's certainly a road the ctu's negotiating position seeing students run from the public schools. >> 12% of chicago students currently go to charter schools. they kept going to class. this should teach us something. we need more choice in education. we shouldn't be high bound to a monopoly where a few members can walk out even after being given a 16% pay increase offer. parents need to have more options. gerri: we're not sure of what the details of any contracts will be, but we had tentative deal discussed. i want your reaction. this is, again, tentative, we don't know the results of this. a three year contract with guaranteed raises, no merit pay, limit part of the evaluation based on student performance to just 30%, and 50%, half of hires, will be laidoff teachers. good or bad idea? >> talk about baby steps when it

comes to reform. remember, the union had preachesly agreed earlier this year -- previously agreed earlier this year to a rigorous evaluation system. we know there's good teachers in chicago, but there's many bad teachers, what, 18% of 4th graders read at proficiency level? this is outrageous. gerri: wow, all right. >> we clearly need more reform than this. i don't think the contract is going to do anything to change the underlying problems in the system. gerri: another fact point, data point here, the minutes per day of teacher instruction, minutes per day, think about that, of teacher instruction, the national average, 67,000, and chicago is 52,000. that's an idea of how they stack up with teachers actually doing the job hired to do, which is to instruct the young people. we got a long way to go. if chicago is not the leader, john, in education across the country, where do we look to? >> oh, i think there's many states doing all kind of things.

indiana, over half of indiana in the next few months, will become eligible for school choice, either charter school or a private school pick up the students. louisiana, over half the students will be eligible for school choice there. there are many states proceeding with dramatic reforms, and eventually, i believe, they will get better results. we are confining an entire generation of kith -- kids to a life where they can't get employment and may be behind bars. once the kid goes through school, you can't reclaim them. gerri: and things can get better. i hope that's the take away tonight. >> absolutely. gerri: appreciate your time. all right, meanwhile, union battles heat up again in wisconsin where the fight is back to square one. the state throwing out a controversial law cur bing collective bargaining rights. reforms put in place by governor scott walker that led to the

unsuccessful recall election there, but the state'sattorney general today seeking to put the ruling on hold in preparation for an appeal. bottom line, wisconsin is in a state of confusion. with more, the lieutenant governor, rebecca clayfish. thank you for coming on the show, and what do you make of this? >> good evening. we think of it an irresponsible decision made by a liberal county in winsconsin, and we're sad one judge decided it was his duty to legislate from the bench. gerri: what's that mean for schools, though, in the short term at least? >> well, that's part of the problem. the attorney general asked for a stay in the case and at the same time appealed to the 4th district court of appeals, but for school districts, counties, and municipalities, this is a moment for pause and deep concern because obviously, they want stability, a little predictability, and that's what the reforms had given our

schools and our mew municipalits and counties, an opportunity to save money and reform their budgets so that they had a good deem of stainability and they also were able to give taxpayers the services that they demanded. gerri: well, there's a broader impact possibly, too, and that's the economy of the state. what do you expect that to be? >> well, we're optimistic about our economy in wisconsin. in fact, this should be the week we are talking about the budget priorities because we're starting to get to work on our top priority, and one of those is job creation, helping out the private sector create jobs, government reform, transforming education and developing our work force, investing in the infrastructure. those are the things we want to be talking about, but what this does is thrust more instability and more un predictability into the job creators' minds. we can't have that right now. that's why it's also important that a decision be handed down

reflecting the taxpayers' will in wisconsin. taxpayers voiced opinion on this before and over and over again they said that they want fiscal reform. gerri: want fiscal reform, but the recalls cost, what $13.5 million? it's been extremely expensive. can you speak to that? >> it's so frustrating. the voters of wisconsin, the taxpayers, the families are frustrateed. this is their money that these special interest groups, these union bosses, largely from afar outside the state of wisconsin, are tapping into in order to put on these recall elections. the voters of wisconsin have already spoken. they've spoken on this issue over and over and over again, and the issue i'm talking about is just plain old fiscal common sense and government reforms. it's what they voted for in fall of 2010, what they voted for in the recall elections of 2011, and it's what they voted for

again in the recall elections of the governor and myself in 2012 when we actually were re-elected by more votes in our recall election than we even got in 2010. the voters of wisconsin are clear. they want fiscal reform. they don't want to live on the credit card anymore. gerri: well, a lot of people across the country feel that way. lieutenant governor, thanks for helping us out tonight. >> my pleasure. gerri: why record low interest rates may not be what they are cracked up to be, especially for you and me, and is the coal industry burning out? it was a promise by candidate obama, but is it now the reality? one expert's take coming up next. ♪

gerri: one of the biggest coal producers in the country, alpha natural, today said it's shutting down production across a number of states, and they are cutting nearly 10% of the work force, that's 1200 jobs. every major coal producer in the country cut back this year, and some hav gone bankrupt in part because of cheaper natural gas, but also because of the government regulation. joining me is mike dun can from the american coalition of clean coal electricity. mike, welcome to the show. you are probably not surprised

about the news tell. tell us about the impact of the government regulations on your industry. >> well, thank you for having me. i won't comment specifically on alpha, but i'll tell you about the tragedy, the tragedy to the economy, the communities, and the tragedy to the people laid out nedlessly by the war on coal that's perpetrated by the obama epa. gerri: i want you to listen to a comment from mitt romney last month in hoips on the importance of -- ohio on the importance of call to the economy. >> i got five things i've been talking about all over the country. i was in florida yesterday, gave five things. number one, take advantage of the energy resources, our goal, our gas, our oil, our renewables, our nuclear. we have 250 years of coal, why in the heck wouldn't we use it? gerri: all right. you heard mitt romney, does he have it right? >> he has it right. coal is what can make us energy independent in this country. coal is part of the mix we need of all of the above. it's the base of the -- base for

the electricity in the country. we just came out with a new study at ace showing that the epa regulations are causing the closure of about 31,000 megawatts of electricity. that's about -- gerri: 204 plants; right? i mean, there's a number of plants across the country closing down. what's the impact of that on individuals, on consumers? >> well, it's in 25 states so that affects all kinds of people. i'll tell you about it. it affects the people who work at these power plants. it affects the people in the service industries in these communities. it affects the broader economy and all the communities, and it affects the businesses. if you are a producer of electricity, something that needs a lot of electricity like alum numb or steel and the prices go up, you can't continue doing that in the united states. if you're a small business person, and the electricity is a higher per sedge taj of the over-- percentage of the overhead

expense, you have to cut back. if you're a low income individual, and the price of power goes to a certain point, you can't afford as much electricity, a you will be left out of the economy of the country. that's a tragedy. gerri: all right. kevin clutchfield, ceo of alpha natural said this, the regulatory environment aimed at constraining the use of coal is what's happened here by the obama administration, and, yet, the obama administration, their spokeswoman just said this, "president obama has increased investmentings in the research and development of clean coal technology and employment in the mining industry at a 15-year high in 2011." they say nothing is wrong, nothing hurts, no problem here to see. what do you say? >> i'm hopeful president obama and the administration see the light and include coal in the agenda, but what i've seen from the epa is more to -- politics, and we need politicians looking out for the future to ensure we have coal

around that equals jobs and prosperity for americans in the future. gerri: what's interesting is the united mine workers endorsed obama in the last election. they are endorsing nobody right now. what's that tell you? >> well, that tells me that they are very concerned. they understand the economics of this because it's their families, their retirements. it's the communities where they live. they have made the decision that the epa is too political. that it's not allowing coal which is not aowing coal based electricity to be produced, and that's bad for the country. gerri: mike duncan, thanks for coming on tonight. we really appreciate your time. >> thank you. gerri: my two cents more and why the fed's action to boost the economy does little for your bottom line, especially if you're a homeowner. why record low mortgage interest rates are still out of reach. that's next. ♪ when we got married.

i had three kids. and she became the full time mother of three. it was soccer, and ballet, and cheerleading, and baseball. those years were crazy. so, as we go into this next phase, you know, a big part of it for us is that there isn't anything on the schedule.

mortgage rates at record lows, but most homeowners at a loss and unable to

gerri: in focus tonight, the housing market. new data out for core logic finds two-thirds of americans with mortgages pay more than 5% on that mortgage december -- despite the fact rates are at all-time lows. why are they t of reach? will the feds' move to make rates lower help? asking richard green, lusk center for real estate. the reality is most folks understand banks are not lending, the real reason people can't get access, and they are also under water. tell me, in your view, why are the record low rates out of

reach for so many people? >> well, it's two things, i think. first of all, as you said, there's a lot of borrowers under water, and so there's a reluctance to lend too people. there's a program called the harp program, but that allows borrowers under water to refinance, but even then, lenders are afraid of the consequences of doing one of these loans. the second thing is that if you don't have easy documented income, so if you don't have w-2 income, lenders are suspicious of what you show them. suppose you are a small business owner filing 1099s, your income may not be steady. they are reluck at that particular time -- reluctant to make mortgages to you. >> the hamp program helped only a third of the people they intended to help. at the end of the day, the government programs really have not been a solution. what needs to happen in this housing market?

>> well, i think if the harp program could be made to work easily, transparently so if you're current on your mortgage, and that's the thing about the harp program, it's not rewarding people who engaged in bad behavior, but rewarding people who are current on their mortgages. if you are current on your mortgage, you just get to refinance, period. an interesting thing is one of mitt romney's advisers, glenn hubbard, pushed the idea of allowing people to refinance, sort of no questions asked if they are current on the mortgage. that would be enormously ben official to the housing market and the broader economy. gerri: richard, the reality is people said there are consequences to that. people get hurt. people who own those bond investments connected to the mortgages do take a hit. >> they do. look, there's nothing that's a panacea, but what this allows people to do is borrowers can exercise an option that for years and years and years boar

roars had any way that when interest rates fall, they can refinance. when investors in mortgages make the investments, they know there's that option. in a sense, investors have gotten a wind fall arising from the fact that because they are fannie and fred gi mortgages, they are guaranteed by the government, and because borrowers are stuck, unable to refinance, they don't refinance whereas in years past they would have quite readily done so. gerri: that would unlock a lot of money to help the economy. richard, we appreciate the time. >> you're welcome. >> you're welcome. gerri: we'll be right [ male announcer ] how do you trade? with scottrader streaming quotes, any way you want. fully customize it for your trading process -- from thought to trade, on every screen. and all in real time. which makes it just like having your own trading floor,

right at your fingertips. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. try our easy-to-use scottrader streaming quotes. it's another reason more investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade. so let's talk about coverage. based on this chart, who would you choose ? wow. you guys take a minute. zon, hands down. i'm going to show you guys another chart. pretty obvious. i don't think color matters. pretty obvious. what'sretty obvious about it ? that verizon has the coverage. verin. verizon. we're going to go to another chart. it doesn't really matter how you present it. it doesn't matter how you present it. verizon. more 4g lte coverage than all other networks combined.

gerri: yesterday i did my civic duty and went to jury service and let me tell you, it was an eye-opening

experience. the civil case that i and 11 others were presented with was this. a guy goes to a bar, gets drunk and is tossed out by bouncers. to be fair we didn't know the extent of his injuries or even if there were any but at any rate he sues the bar. the lawyers gave us scant details as they interviewed us who would be a good fit for the case of the everything was proceeding as planned until one of them divulged it was likely to be a 10-day case. near pandemonium ensued, nearly one voice, you want 10 days of our time likely to be nuisance case, the case that routinely bogs down our judicial system? can't you settle this yourselves? give us a break. we were dismissed by judge all of us dismissed. we're tired of people taking advantage of the system to get what they want.